The Spirit Rebellion(88)

“Gentero,” he said thoughtfully in a soft, urbane voice. “The trickster. Wrong opera, but quite appropriate.”

Eli shoved his hands in his pockets. “I never liked Tragedy of the Scarlet Knight, anyway.”

“No,” the man said, closing the fold-down writing table where he’d been working. “You never had any taste for subtlety.” His eyes flicked from Josef to Nico. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

Eli sighed. “Nico, Josef, meet Giuseppe Monpress. He is, for lack of a better insult, my father.”

The man stood up and held out his hand. “Pleasure.”

Josef just looked at him. “I thought we were here to find the thief who robbed the duke ahead of us?”

“We are,” Eli said. “That’s him.”

“Bit of a family business,” Monpress said, sitting down again.

“You’re the one who stole the duke’s treasury?” Josef said.

“What bits of it were worth the taking,” Monpress said. “Quite honestly, when you factor in the setup costs and expense of fencing such well-known artifacts, I’m not sure I made any money at all on this venture.”

“Then why did you do it?” Eli said.

The tone in his voice made Josef hesitate. He’d never heard Eli sound quite that sharp. Eli, however, wasn’t paying attention to him or Nico. His focus was entirely on the smiling man sitting at the desk. “You never pull a job without running the numbers three times through. You used to say that anything less than fifty percent profit wasn’t worth the breath to talk about. So why did you rob Gaol?”

Monpress gave him a dry look. “You mean, why did I take your target?”

“However you want to put it,” Eli said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Because it was made for you,” the older Monpress said. “Come, you must have realized that this whole fiasco—the citadel, the bragging, the posters plastered on every wall for two hundred miles in any direction—was all bait in a trap for you. Of course you did, and yet here you are, ready to waltz in like an idiot, just like always.”

“Traps aren’t a bother if you go in with your eyes open,” Eli said through clenched teeth. “It was a challenge. And I still don’t understand why you felt the need to impersonate me.”

“I did nothing of the sort,” Monpress said. “I only robbed them. They decided it was you. And no wonder, with the way you carry on. I mean, a challenge? Did you listen to nothing I taught you? Thievery is about finesse, about getting in, getting out, and being long gone before anyone thinks to check the safe. It’s not about having your face on every wall or being so well known that any noble with a budget shortfall can lure you into his lands.”

Eli shot him a murderous glare, and the older Monpress took a deep breath. “I don’t know why we’re even having this discussion,” he said, his voice calm again. “Like it or not, I still feel an obligation to watch out for you. I headed for Gaol as soon as I saw them putting up the posters in Zarin. The whole thing was so obvious that I knew it was only a matter of time before you came running. I had hoped to be done with the whole affair well before you crossed the border. After all, challenge or no, even you wouldn’t bother breaking in when there’s nothing left to steal. I thought if I couldn’t stop you from taking the bait, I could at least disarm the trap.” His eyes narrowed. “Obviously, I forgot how quickly you can move when your unfortunate flair for the dramatic makes you take leave of what little sense you have.”

The two men glared knives at each other, and for a moment Eli looked as if he was about to turn on his heel and march out. Then he shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You know what?” he said. “I don’t care. I don’t even know why I was surprised to find you here. You always were a meddling old man who never knew when to leave well enough alone. But it doesn’t matter. That ‘thief-proof’ citadel was a joke I wouldn’t want to be known for breaking into anyway. However, we are here for something other than just the joy of breaking in. I need an item from the duke’s collection, a Fenzetti blade.”

Monpress looked appalled. “That thing? Why? Fenzettis are impossible to fence.”

Eli smiled secretively. “Let’s just say I have a buyer who’s already paid in full.”

“A buyer?” Monpress said, theatrically impressed. “That’s a first for you. I was beginning to side with the popular opinion that you eat everything you steal.”

“That’s one of the nicest things they’ve said about me.” Eli grinned. “Are you going to give us the Fenzetti or not?”